


It takes a village to raise a child, they say

by reveetoile



Series: Arashi Sharehouse [1]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Family Drama, Family Fluff, M/M, Minor Character Death, Secret Children, Secret Marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2018-12-19 01:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11886744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reveetoile/pseuds/reveetoile
Summary: Jun gets a call and all of Arashi's life will change.





	1. Chapter 1

It was a day as they were used to. The members of Arashi were sitting in their Green Room at the agency relaxing between two shoots. It had gotten late now and they all wanted to go home and rest. But as it was their tenth year one appointment was right after the other.   
  
"How much time do we have left?" Nino asked curiously and watched Jun who looked up from his laptop where he was planning their anniversary tour. Jun tried his best not to take work with him home.   
  
"Around half an hour until the PV shooting will continue," Sho answered instead and Nino smiled wryly. He really should have thought of asking Sho who knew about all of their schedules the best. "Only me and Masaki have to stay a bit longer for an interview."  
  
"Oh, okay," he said with a smile and poked Ohno in the side to wake him up. Half an hour would be enough to make the oldest presentable and not too sleepy looking.   
  
"What issit?" Ohno mumbled and Nino giggled a little.   
  
"The shooting starts soon," he reminds him and Ohno hummed in understanding and closing his eyes again sleepily. Nino rolled his eyes and wanted to poke him again when a shrill ringing disrupted him.   
  
"Shit! Sorry, guys, I forgot to put it on mute!" Jun apologised directly and looked for his phone hurriedly in his bag.  
  
"It's fine," Sho mumbled still more concentrated on the movie he was watching and the rest agreed almost amused. They weren't filming right now so a ringing phone was no problem the same with private phone calls.   
  
Jun excused himself as he left the room with a worried look on his face after looking at the caller ID. He closed the door or at least tried but it swung open a bit again shortly after. Nino's eyes followed him curiously. It was seldom that Jun was that careless.   
  
It was only seconds later - at least it felt like that - when Jun came back, looking pale and worrying his lip. Jun grabbed his bag to put all of his things inside without caring about it.   
  
That got the attention of everyone else. Jun was never careless when packing his bag and now he didn't seem to care that he crumbled a few papers and even put in a dog toy that Aiba put on their table earlier.   
  
"J, what happened?" Nino asked worriedly and sat up fully, at last succeeding in waking up Ohno fully in the process.   
  
"What's up?" he asked and Jun looked up with eyes wide in shock.   
  
"It was the hospital. Sumire had a car accident with the children, I have to go. I'm sorry but I have to check on them," he answered distracted and swore when he accidentally emptied half of his bag the moment he lifted it because he didn't close it properly.   
  
Aiba was up in a second to lift the fallen things from the floor and put them on the table. Sho had his phone pressed to his ear in an instant to call for a car for Jun.   
  
"I can drive," Jun argued and Sho shot him a glare.   
  
"Manager-san will be outside in five," Sho said while Ohno looked at him sternly and said: "You can't drive." Nino nodded in agreement and took the bag from Jun's weak grip to pack it again, more orderly this time.   
  
There was a knock at the door the moment Nino finished packing everything and two of their managers entered their room a moment later.   
  
"Matsumoto-san, are you ready?" one of them asked and Jun nodded. He thanked the other guys a bit teary eyed and Ohno pushed him to the door gently.  
  
"Go and make sure they are okay. We will handle the rest and cancel what we can," he promised and with a look at the second man who nodded in agreement with a grim expression on his face.   
  
"You will not be expected in tomorrow as well," he explained and Jun nodded thankfully once more. He was too shaken to verbally answering and let himself be ushered out.   
  
The rest of them shared a concerned look and hoped that everything would be fine.   
  
"Let's do this," Sho mumbled. The sooner they finished the rearranging of their shoots and Jun's appointments the sooner they would find out what happened with Jun's wife and children.


	2. Chapter 2

Nino stopped the car behind the hospital and killed the engine before getting out. He waited until the other two were out of the car before they went inside to find their youngest member. Nino held onto Ohno as tightly as he was allowed and watched Aiba as he was talking to the nurse at the front desk. They bowed their heads in thanks when they were shown the way to a private room and Ohno knocked carefully before they entered. 

Jun looked up and Nino flinched as he saw the lost look in his eyes. He looked around and saw Rin sleeping in a crib and Akemi laying in a hospital bed, a bandage covering half of her face. 

“Sho said to tell you he is sorry. He has News Zero shooting and can’t make it yet,” Aiba whispered and Jun nodded before looking over his children again. Aiba put the rabbit of the girl beside her in the bed. They went to Jun’s home to get a few things for them before coming here.

“What happened?” Nino asked carefully and frowned a little. “How is Sumire-san?” Jun paled considerably at the mention of his wife and Nino tugged him up and out of the door so that they could talk without the children hearing anything if they would wake. Jun lingered at the door but Aiba gestured him to go, he would stay here for the moment and get the updates later. Jun smiled thankfully and Nino and Ohno led him outside. They walked down the hallway a bit and Ohno bought some coffee for them. 

“Sumire was on the way home from shopping as far as I know. Someone ignored a red light and she was probably a bit distracted because of the children. She is always so stressed right now. They don’t know exactly,” Jun explained tiredly and rubbed his forehead. 

“Jun-kun, what happened to Sumire-san?” Ohno asked carefully and Jun’s face crumbled. Tears sprang to his eyes and he had to close them against the wetness for a moment. He breathed in deeply and Ohno put his arms around the other. Jun let himself fall against him and hid his face in his shoulder. 

“They said it was too late for her. She died on the way to the hospital,” he confessed and Nino took a sharp breath. He felt one of Nino’s hands on his shoulder and Ohno’s steady arms around him. It helped him to not crumble completely right now. The thought of his wife hurt. He would never have thought that he would lose her that way or anyway, to be honest. Tears ran over his cheeks as he cried on Ohno’s shoulder. Nino squeezed his shoulder before letting go and sharing a look over his shoulder. 

“I will check on Aiba and the kids and tell Sho,” he promised and Jun nodded thankfully. “Did you already call Sumire's parents?” he continued and Jun shook his head. He couldn’t bring himself to call them. Sumire's parents never got on with him. They hated his guts for stealing their daughter and forcing her to a life in secret. Jun could understand them in a way but Sumire never was mad at him. She knew that the first second he was able to he would have announced his family to the world. They were in love and that was enough for the moment. 

They lived in a suburb area of Tokyo. It was peaceful there and the people were mostly elderly people - the youngsters preferred the hectic life in Tokyo - who were really respectful of his private life if they recognized him. Jun didn’t mind the longer travel to work if it meant that they could live together. For stressful days he had an apartment in the city he could use. 

“I see I will call them as well then,” he promised and Jun nodded again mutely but Nino could see that a little tension left him at that promise. Ohno nodded and Nino could easily tell that his look and nod was a sign for him to go combined with the promise to look after Jun. Nino took another can of coffee for Aiba and left for him. 

 

Nino opened the door silently as to not wake the children or disturb them and Aiba looked up sharply for the moment before he recognized him and relaxed once more. Nino gave him the coffee and rubbed his face before getting closer to Aiba.

“Sumire is dead,” he whispered a careful eye on the sleeping girl and Aiba’s eyes widened as he lifted his hand to his mouth as to not let any noise out. “Drink the coffee we should be as awake as we can be. I have to do some calls,” he continued and waved his phone in front of Aiba’s face after he fished it out of his bag together with a pack of cigarettes.

Aiba nodded silently and looked at the children with tears in his eyes. He couldn’t believe what has happened and knew that they had to help Jun the best they could. He just had to think about how. Nino left him and went to the smoking space outside to call Sho first. He wanted to leave Jun’s parents-in-law until the end. 

“Hello, Nino?” Sho said hurriedly and Nino felt bad for telling Sho that news when Sho had to appear in front of the cameras soon. But Sho probably had read about the accident already and was waiting for their call anxiously. 

“Hey, Sho,” Nino mumbled. “Sumire is dead. Rin seems to be okay and Akemi is hurt.” There was a shocked silence on the other side and then a sharp intake of breath. 

“How is Jun doing?” 

“How do you imagine?” Nino asked sarcastically and then groaned. “No, sorry, Sho. He is bad. But Oh-chan is looking after him. Aiba is looking after the children in the moment and lucky me got to call everybody. I’m… I don’t know I think I am just mad that such a thing happened,” he mumbled and Sho sighed. 

“I can understand. I will come as soon as I finish here. But I have to go now, sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry for snapping at you and calling with such a bad news.” Sho clicked his tongue since it’s not the fault of anybody of them but he just repeated that he would come soon and then hung up. Nino lit his cigarette before dialing the number of Sumire's parents. It took long until her father got to the phone. 

“What?” he grumbled and Nino sighed and rolled his eyes a little. But he tried his best to be polite as he told the man about what happened earlier today and about the death of their only daughter. The silence on the other end was hard to bear and Nino wanted to tell them he was sorry again when there was a click and the man had hung up on him. He could understand the reaction in a way but that didn’t mean that being hung up on him made him happy. He looked up when Ohno appeared beside him and hid into his side when Ohno was close enough. 

“What about Jun?” he asked and Ohno hummed. 

“He is with Aiba. He wanted to be with his children.”

“I see. I think her parents are on their way. I don’t know they hung up after I told them,” Nino explained and Ohno hold him a bit tighter while stealing the last of the cigarette and throwing it away. They stayed outside for a moment hugging tightly and Ohno pressed his lips against Nino’s hair for a moment, before loosening their embrace. 

“Let’s go inside.” Nino agreed silently and took Ohno’s hand as they went inside again. They didn’t want to leave Jun alone for long. They were worried about what would happen now but until their managers didn’t talk to them about what the agency expected of them now the only thing they could do was making sure that Jun knew they were by his side.


	3. Chapter 3

“No, I won’t,” Jun said clearly upset and glared at the man in front of him. 

“But Matsumoto-san, think about it. They would be in the best care there,” their manager said and Jun snorted a bit. He glared at the man and crossed his arms in front of his body. 

“They are the best when they are with me. They are my children, after all,” Jun said as calmly as he could. He would love to just jump up and stomp out of this room. He won’t let his children go. His daughter was confused enough as it was right now. Jun was happy that his mother had been able to come to his house for the moment. Of course, he knew it wasn’t the best solution and that it won’t work like that forever. But that didn’t mean he would give them up. Of course, his in-laws weren’t happy that Sumire died and wanted to have custody of them but it was with him. And as long as he was able to take care of his children he would. 

“You can't-do both, Matsumoto-san. How will you manage?” the man tried again and Jun shrugged. He didn’t want to give up Arashi. How could he? Those guys were his family and he loved what he did. But he also wanted to keep his children close. 

“I don’t know. I will somehow. I can make it work,” he said slowly and stood up. “I won’t give them up just because it’s easier that way. They have already lost their mother. You can’t expect that I would make them lose their father as well.”

“What if the agency forces you to decide for one?”

Jun glared at him and it was all he could do to keep it together and not kill the man in front of him right now. He knew he only did his job in a way but he was cruel the way he did it. “Then they will have my notice of termination of my contract on their table the next minute. If you excuse me now there is a photo shooting scheduled in thirty minutes and I want to be home on time,” he said coldly and left the room to enter their green room. He was seething. He closed the door with a bang and felt only remotely sorry that he made Aiba jump in his seat in shock. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled nonetheless. His bad mood wasn’t Aiba’s fault after all. 

“Bad talk?”

“More than bad,” Jun allowed and groaned. “Not that I had expected a good talk to begin with. But this is ridiculous. They want to force me to give the children to Sumire’s family. Sumire wouldn’t want that. And I’m their father. I don’t want to lose them. But…”

“But you fear that you will?” Aiba asked worriedly and Jun shrugged. 

“If their grandparents fight for them. Probably. I can’t take care of them properly,” Jun whispered and closed his eyes. He knew he had too little time to look after two little children. But that knowledge didn’t change that he wanted to try at least. Aiba watched Jun closely and then got closer to lay an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him softly. 

“We will find a solution. You are not alone,” he promised and Jun forced a small smile on his lips. He didn’t see how the others would be able to really help him with this. 

“I told them I would quit if they won’t let me keep them,” he confessed and Aiba laughed out loud. 

“We didn’t expect less,” he teased and the smile was a bit more genially now. He was glad that the others understood him.

 

“We need to help MatsuJun!” Aiba declared that afternoon. The photo shoot finished just ten minutes ago and Jun was already gone to be home and with his children early. They all could understand his wish to be with them as much as possible and tried their best with all the work they did together so that they could end early. They managed it mostly. 

“What are you talking about?” Sho asked and the others looked just as confused as Sho felt. 

“MatsuJun thinks that he might lose his children because of his in-laws and the agency,” Aiba explained and let himself fall onto the sofa only to be poked by Nino who had already changed to stand up again. 

“Change into your clothes. The staff wants them back to be able to finish for the day,” he scolded and Aiba pouted as he stood again and did as Nino told him. “He knows that we will support him whatever the agency says.”

“But he needs someone to look after the children when he is at work. To be able to take care of them the best so that Sumire’s parents won’t take them away.” Aiba sat down after he finished and this time Nino let him without complaint.

“Well, they are right in a way. We don’t have the most compatible job for raising children,” Sho murmured thoughtfully. 

“If we move in with him someone of us will be at home almost all the time,” Aiba said enthusiastically and Nino frowned. 

“I don’t think he would want us there, Aiba! And you can’t decide for him or us.”

“He would let us stay if we just appeared there! And Akemi-chan and Rin-chan love us. So it would be really easy. You want to help him also don’t you?” Aiba looked from one to the other and Nino glared a little. He didn’t think that would be a good solution but to his horror, both Ohno and Sho nodded after a moment. 

“You can’t be serious? That is a horrible idea. We can’t look after little children. It will be horrible chaotic. We won’t have any rest time and we are away as a group often as well. That’s no solution, that is such a bad idea,” Nino argued and stood up. He wouldn’t be able to do it. To look after children who miss their mother? He didn’t like children. Children didn’t like him! In no way, he would do that!

“Nino…” Aiba said and Nino shook his head. 

“No. Even if you all want to do it, I won’t. I can’t, not possible,” he said and left before anybody could hold him back. He didn’t think he would be able to do it. Yes, he wanted to help Jun, but that was a bit too much to ask. “Fuck!” he swore as he left the building to head home. 

 

Aiba looked at the door and groaned. “I will talk to him,” Ohno mumbled but Aiba shook his head. 

“No, he will come around,” he mumbled and then grinned. “And if not, I can call his mother,” he added cheerfully. Nino’s mother had raised her children alone as well. She only managed because of her family and of course friends. She wouldn’t let her son go that easily, he knew that. 

“We need to convince MatsuJun, though,” Sho said after a while lost in his own thoughts. “And talk with the agency. It would be too hard to fight too many things at the same time.”

“Then let’s talk with them first,” Ohno mumbled and tugged Sho along with him to talk to the higher-ups while Aiba got the okay from Jun to move in with him. Jun wasn’t easily convinced but luckily his mother was on Aiba’s side and thought it was a very thoughtful idea from them to help out in this way. In the end, Jun agreed to at least try it if the agency allowed them to move in together. 

Aiba ended the call with the promise to call again when he knew more and then went to call Ninomiya-san to tell her about what had happened to Jun’s wife and what they wanted to do and asked her to help to convince her stubborn son. 

 

Nino wasn’t really surprised when he heard the door to his apartment open and paused his game, to get up and greet his mother with a kiss to her cheek. 

“I would ask why you are here but I think I know.”

“Good then I can spare my breath,” his mother said. She went inside and Nino followed her to the small kitchenette. He watched her preparing some food for them and put his chin on his hand. 

“You won’t be able to change my mind,” Nino mumbled and she looked at him over her shoulder for a moment. 

“I’m here to listen to your arguments. Afterwards, I will decide how much of an idiot you are,” she answered sweetly and Nino huffed a little bit. He could see that his mother wasn’t happy with his decision. 

“It’s just a silly idea of Masaki. He hasn’t thought this through at all. We five living in one house? We will hate each other before the first week is over.” Nino was scared that they would begin to hate each other if they were around each other 24/7. “Also, it isn’t really smart to be in one place. People will notice, Jun alone might be able to hide more or less but with us all living there? It might be dangerous for his kids to be seen around us all the time. And we might have fans camping in front of the door all the time.”

“The neighbourhood is small and safe,” his mother countered and Nino nodded. He knew that. Jun had been careful when he chose that house. He had wanted his family to be as safe as possible. 

“Children don’t like me. I don’t think they would be happy with four uncles around them all the time. If the agency even allows it. And what can we do? None of us is able to look after children. I’m horrible with children. I might hate them and yell at them if I am around them all the time.”

His mother shook his head and Nino crossed his arms when she lowered the heat of the stove and turned to him. Her stance similar to his own plus a lifted eyebrow. “You don’t sound convinced yourself,” she observed and he shrugged. 

“I don’t know why I have to argue with you at all. It’s my decision. Isn’t it?” His mother frowned and turned back to the stove to finish their dinner. “Mom?”

“You know that he will need all the help he can get,” she began in a low voice and Nino bit his lips. “It’s hard to raise children all alone. And it’s not only Akemi and Rin who lost their mother. Jun-kun lost his wife, Kazunari. You all seem to forget it. I think Jun-kun is so worried about the future right now that you all would be a great help. He needs to be able to mourn as well. And he can’t right now.”

“I can understand that it is a lot and I can’t force you to join the others. But I don’t think that any of your worries would come true.”

Nino worried his lip between his teeth and sighed. He closed his eyes and laid the head on the kitchen counter. He listened to his mother cooking silently and let himself be lulled by it for a little bit. “It would mean a lot would change, ne?” he asked. “I’m not used to be careful not to wake others. I’m also not used to be careful about swearing in front of others or what games I play,” he mumbled and looked up when he felt a soft hand in his hair. His mother smiled softly and took his face into her hands. 

“I can’t force you to follow the others. But know that I am proud of you, ne? I’m sure you can do it if you want. Come on, set the table and then we can eat.”

Nino watched her for a moment and then nodded as he got up to do as she asked him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any wishes or ideas for what might happen? I have one more chapter of them moving in then there might be a few time-jumps in it. Do you have any scenarios you would love to read? I'm happy to listen to them :D


	4. Chapter 4

“I hate you,” Nino decided the next day when Aiba stood in front of his door with a hopeful look on his face. Even with those words, he stepped aside to let the older man in.

“I love you, too, Nino-chan,” he sang and changed into house slippers before stepping into his living room. “The agency said it’s not the smartest thing to do but they can’t really stop us when three out of five already told them that they would quit if they forced Jun to give his children up.” 

An amused smile flittered over Nino’s face at those words. It was funny how helpless the agency was when nobody cared for the consequences. “And what are Jun’s thoughts about it all?”

“Jun was not that happy at the beginning but his mother was all in for it since she has to go back soon. So yeah, there was nothing really he could say,” Aiba explained happily and leaned back on the sofa. He was really happy with how it all worked out and he was sure that everything will go well once they lived with the small family. They would be able to make the little girl smile again and make sure that Jun could have some rest and time for himself. 

“I see, and why exactly are you here? You could have told me all that over the phone.” Nino was tired and really in no way in the mood to humour Aiba in the least. 

“To see how you are. I know I was a bit unfair when I told your mother,” Aiba confessed and Nino glared a bit at him. 

“It was. But I can understand. I agreed to try but I’m in no way a role model for children. So don’t try to make me one,” he glared at him and Aiba laughed a bit. He was sure that Nino would be great. Even if he made it seem as if he was a horrible human being Nino was the direct opposite. Nino sighed and closed his eyes. 

“Urgh! Why did you come so early? I’m tired. I want to sleep!” Nino moaned and Aiba giggled a bit breathlessly. He was just too excited to wait for a later hour. 

“You can take a nap and I pack your things?”

“Don’t you dare to touch anything. I will pack myself. Go away.”

“But I’m already finished,” Aiba whined and Nino opened his eyes in shock. 

“You aren’t serious?”

“Of course, I am. I couldn’t wait. It will be so exciting to live with all of you. Also, did you see how exhausted MatsuJun was? I know that he likes to pretend that everything is alright it isn’t. He tries his best to be strong,” Aiba said thoughtfully and Nino nodded. He knew. He was worried about Jun. Just as the others were. Nino leaned against Aiba and closed his tired eyes again. 

“And you are just happy to live together with Sho,” he teased and giggled when Aiba punched his arm weakly. “When will be moving day?”

“We will do it in turns. It will be too chaotic if the four of us move in at the same time. We are lucky that the house is big enough for us all though. It’s good that Jun likes big places.”

“That’s true,” Nino sighed and stood up to finally pack some things. He knew that Aiba was here to fetch him probably since both of them were free today. He would come back later for more when he knew how big his room was and he honestly hoped that it would be big enough for a computer and a television set. Otherwise, he would directly go back. Aiba grinned brightly at him when he tugged a suitcase, bag, and handbag with him back to the living room. 

“We should raid your fridge and then we are ready to go,” Aiba grinned and Nino shrugged before watching Aiba clearing out the fridge and putting the things into a basket so that they could take them with them. 

 

“Uncle Masaki, Nino,” Akemi greeted surprised when they entered the building and Nino mock glared at the girl who giggled at his playful growl. He ruffled her hair and greeted Jun’s mother who was busy feeding Rin in his high chair. 

“Hello Akemi-chan,” Aiba greeted and knelt down to hug the little girl. He kissed her cheeks and smiled. “Did your daddy already tell you that we will move in with you?” he asked curiously and the girl nodded. 

“Yep, before going in the morning,” she explained and wriggled around in his hold demanding to be let down onto the floor. She tugged at his hand and looked up at him. “Akemi choose the rooms for you and uncle Kaz,” she said proudly and Aiba giggled a bit as he followed her. 

“Will you show me?” he asked with a puppy dog look on his face and she giggled before nodding. 

“Yes!” She went through the living room and the hallway and opened a door close to her own bedroom. “It’s for uncle Masa,” she explained and he nodded in understanding. “I cleaned.”

“That is wonderful, Akemi-chan,” he said and took her into his arms again. He looked around and then smiled at the girl. “The room is wonderful tidy. You choose well. Will you show me Nino-chan’s room as well? Is it big enough for him to have a TV-set?” he asked and she nodded brightly. 

“Yup! Daddy said that uncle Kaz will need much space for his music as well, ne?” she asked and Nino who just came to look for them laid his head to the side to mimic the little girl when she saw him. 

“Ne?” he agreed and she pouted a bit. “You are right, I need a lot of space for my instruments. I need them at home,” he then agreed and she smiled proudly that she got that right. 

“Will you show us?” Aiba asked and she nodded. Aiba let her down again and they followed the girl to another room. It was bigger than Aiba’s and he thought that he could fit everything in even if it was a really tight fit. 

“Daddy said to make sure you know everything,” Akemi piped up and Nino looked down. 

“Oh, so you will give us a house tour?” Nino asked and she nodded as she took his hand in her own to show him around. Nino followed her willingly even if he already knew where everything was. They had visited Jun a few times even if not that often. But Akemi was so proud showing them around and explaining all the ground rules her daddy and her mommy had put up for them. Nino smiled amused since most things were so typically Jun. 

“Will you really stay here with us?” she asked when they were in the living room again and Nino sat down on the sofa to put her on his lap. 

“Of course, we promised your daddy to help you all,” he explained. Aiba had excused himself to go back and get Ohno after the man finished his work. 

“Until mommy comes back?” Nino smiled sadly and shook his head. 

“I’m sorry MiMi but your mommy can’t come back,” he said and she nodded sadly. 

“Daddy said the same,” she confessed and he hugged her carefully. He didn’t know what to say but the confusion of the small girl hurt him so much. It reminded him of the confusion he felt when his father left. At least the man hadn’t been dead at that time. “But he said I don’t have to be scared because he will stay with us forever and we won’t be alone.”

“And he is right, ne? Look, we all are here and we will take care of you and your daddy. So you’re not alone at all. It won’t be easy and we probably will make mistakes but we’ll try our best to muddle through everything together, promise,” he whispered against her head and just hold her tightly for as long as she pressed her face into his shirt. That was why he didn’t want to look after them. He didn’t know what to say to make it any better. 

He sighed when he felt that Akemi had fallen asleep against him and caressed her hair softly before lifting her carefully to take her to bed. He went to the kitchen where Jun’s mother stayed while he was in the living room and the woman smiled softly. 

“She talked all morning that you will come and make sure that all will be okay,” she mumbled and Nino laughed softly. 

“We will try our best at least. But yeah, she thinks we can do everything, huh?” he murmured deep in thoughts and the woman nodded. Everybody always said that Arashi could do anything they want so of course, she believed that. 

“Thank you for helping him,” she said after a moment and bowed down. Nino panicked a little and took her hands in his own. 

“Of course, he is our band baby. We will look after him,” he joked lamely and she shook her head. 

“I will pack my things,” she mumbled and he nodded before watching her go. He sighed deeply and left for his room to get his things in their designated places until Aiba and Ohno would arrive or the kids would wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

Ohno and Sho moved in in the early evening, and Akemi was busy showing them their bedrooms and around the house. Little Rin had slept most of the day, and Nino was not so sure if that was normal for a baby. He never looked after babies so small. Rin had only woken up a few times to demand something to drink and a changing of diapers, but that was it. 

Nino sighed when Ohno entered the kitchen where he was currently in and tried to come up with something for them all to eat. The fridge was full, so at least that wasn’t a problem. 

“Ask Mi-chan,” Ohno said when he saw the frown on Nino’s face, and Nino looked up confused. “You don’t know what to cook. So ask her. She should be able to get whatever she wishes today, ne?”

“J will kill us if we don’t make sure she eats her greens,” Nino argued, and Ohno chuckled. That was probably true, but Jun had to be out late for a recording and would be happy that they were here at all. “But I think I could make a salad or something like the side dish,” Nino agreed, and Ohno laughed while watching Nino leave the kitchen to ask Akemi. She decided quickly on omuraisu, and Nino rolled his eyes. He should have thought of this, he thought amused and went back to the kitchen. 

Ohno had already brought the rice cooker to life, and Nino grinned. “Did you listen in?” he asked, and Ohno shrugged. 

“No but rice is essential for a full meal ne?” he asked, and Nino laughed as he got out the ingredients they would need besides the rice. 

“Not in J’s household. As far as I know, he makes pasta each day,” he joked lamely and then flinched when a loud yell was being heard coming from the baby phone. That had happened each time Rin woke up and luckily it was always Aiba who got to the boy, but Nino had spied Aiba, Sho and Akemi playing a game he didn’t want them to interrupt. 

“Dice those onions,” Nino asked Ohno who had already prepared the meat and the man only nodded. He was used to cutting ingredients for their shows. He wasn’t as good as Nino or Jun but better as Sho, and he was used to handling sharp things after all. Nino went to the crying boy and cooed softly as he picked him up. 

“Hey little one,” he sang softly as he carried him around the boy's room to first check the diapers. He still didn’t know what was the problem when the small boy just cried. So he had to try everything. “Careful here,” Nino mumbled when Rin moved around on the changing station and frowned as he tried to keep him from falling. He was glad when he managed that and carried the boy with him. 

Rin was still crying a little, but he had calmed down a bit at least, and he counted that as a first step to victory. He whispered nonsense in the ear of the little boy and pressed his lips against the temple of the small boy and carefully held him against him as he prepared the bottle of formula. Ohno spared them a small glance but cut the mushrooms as Nino ordered him to. 

Ohno’s eyes strayed to the younger man, and he smiled softly. 

“You look good with a baby,” he observed, and Nino rolled his eyes. 

“You said the same with Mimi,” he said and tested the formula against his wrist before putting the bottle in front of Rin’s mouth which closed around it and sucked eagerly. Nino chuckled a little at that. 

“Do you manage to prepare the rice or do you want me to take over?”

“No you feed Rin, and I will fry everything. You have to do the egg, though. I never manage that,” Ohno mumbled as he prepared the pan and Nino hummed. 

“Yup, I can do that. How’s your room?”

“Good, bright. I can put a canvas right in front of the window if I need light.”

“Sounds good.”

“I proposed to Akemi to paint our doors in our colours when we are bored on the weekend.”

Nino laughed shaking his head. “J will kill you for that.”

“Perhaps. But I think it might look good. Easily recognisable for us when we are half asleep and for the children…”

Nino nodded thoughtfully and looked at Rin who he was still feeding. “How long…” he began but shook his head. He shouldn’t think about leaving already. 

“As long as it takes, Nino. In the end, we won’t want to leave,” Ohno said, and Nino grinned before nodding. That was probably true. He would probably get used to this arrangement scaringly fast. He loved his bandmates, and he loved the two children. But he enjoyed his freedom as well. He loved meeting them one on one, spending time with Ohno alone but now they would need to hold back, again. And he hated that thought.

He carefully lifted Rin to his shoulder and slowly drew circles on his back before finally putting him down again. Rin looked peaceful now, and Nino smiled softly. He liked him better when he didn’t cry. Nino was a bit startled when he felt Arms circling his shoulders and lips pressed for a short time against his temple. 

“We’ll manage. Give it a little time until we all get used to this,” Ohno said softly, and Nino nodded with a sigh. 

“Of course. Here take him. I will finish the food. Akemi needs her dinner before bedtime.”

Ohno carried Rin back to his bed when he was finished so that Nino could do the omelette and fetched the others. Akemi was already quite sleepy and luckily went to bed without complaining together with Aiba who read to her until she was asleep. Sho took it upon himself to clean the kitchen and put something for Jun to eat when he was back in the fridge before all of them settled in their rooms. The first day together had been slightly tiring, and they still had to unpack their things to make this more homey for them.


	6. Chapter 6

Aiba met Nino in front of Rin’s room and groaned silently. The boy had woken up a few times now during the night. He needed feeding or a change of diapers or had a bad dream. Aiba didn’t know how often he had already woken up because of that. He always had a light sleep, so the unhappy cries woke him up quickly. 

“We need to make a schedule,” Nino mumbled and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired, and he was fed up by scrambling to get to Rin before the boy woke everybody up to meet one of the others in front of the door. 

“We should make sure that the one who doesn’t have work in the morning looks after him,” Aiba agreed and made Nino smile. That would be the best choice he thought. He sighed and put a hand through his hair when Aiba opened the door and began to calm the boy.

“Go back to sleep. We have to talk to the others in the morning.” Nino agreed to leave Aiba with Rin and going back to bed. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. Looking after children were exhausting, Nino thought unhappily as he closed his eyes.

—

Nino entered the kitchen to be greeted by Jun who was going through the motions of preparing breakfast almost automatically. He blinked a little in surprise and tilted his head curiously as he observed Jun for a moment longer. 

“When did you arrive home?” Nino asked in the end, causing Jun to jump in shock at his words which in turn made Nino frown.

“Two hours ago?” Jun answered back after a small moment, and Nino groaned. “Sorry, the others kept making mistakes, and we had to film for longer to make the deadline.”

“I’m not mad at you. I know how bad filming can go. I’m just worried. Why are you even awake?”

“Akemi came to my bed half an hour ago. She woke me up, and we spent some time cuddling until she fell asleep again.”

“And you are here why?”

“Today kindergarten will start again. I wanted to prepare her a bento.”

Nino smiled and shook his head as he took the utensils out of Jun’s hand. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to send Akemi back to kindergarten right now,” he said softly, and Jun sighed.

“Don’t you think it would be better if she had a normal day?” Jun asked in a small voice, and Nino shrugged. Their mother wasn’t dead for that long, and they all moved in just now. He thought it was a bit early. Mainly because it wasn’t needed.

“No, I think she should be cuddled by us a lot. She needs lots of love. You are free this morning, and Oh-chan is scheduled to be back around twelve. He left just earlier,” Nino explained in a soft tone. “Also, he promised Akemi to get paint and draw on our doors. She was excited about it yesterday. So, I think you should go back to bed and cuddle the hell out of Akemi while both of you try to get more sleep. Take Rin with you if you want. Aiba will probably sleep in and then he can make breakfast for you all or help you at least. I will clean this up and then I will go to the agency to have my interviews. I’m sure if you mail the grocery list to Sho later today he will bring everything back home with him after his recording for the new album.”

“I can’t believe that you already planned everything.”

“Just for today. Don’t get used to it,” Nino warned and turned Jun around to lead him back to his room. “Now sleep.”

Jun looked at him thankfully and then vanished into his room to carefully climb over Akemi to get into bed. He hugged her close to himself and kissed her cheek before closing his eyes and trying to sleep. He missed his wife and sleeping without her by his side was hard.

—

Nino closed the door with a sigh and leant against it for a moment before he went back to the kitchen with a determined look on his face. He poured himself a coffee while he cleaned the counters and put the food Jun had taken already back into the fridge or wherever they were stored. With a look at the big clock on the wall, he gulped down the last of the bitter coffee and went back to his room to change and get his things to get to work. They had a lot to do to make sure that Jun wouldn’t break.

—

>Guys we need to talk.< Nino sighed as he sent the mail to a new group he had created. He wanted to be able to speak to the others without Jun reading everything. He knew that Jun would say they misinterpreted everything and that he was okay. And that wasn’t true at all. 

>What about? Not the schedule of looking after Rin right? Then MatsuJun should be here as well.< Nino rolled his eyes at Aiba’s answer and smiled a little.

>About Jun-kun?< Trust to Sho to get why he might have created an additional group without their youngest member. Nino thought for a moment and then looked at the changed schedule he asked for. He knew he should have talked to Jun beforehand probably and not forcing their overall manager to change it without his knowledge. To be honest, Nino had thought about asking him to minimise all their work. But the poor man had been frazzled enough with that one schedule. The rest could come later. 

>I made Kei change most of his schedule so that he only does the minimum besides his drama filming. I can’t cancel that…<

>Does he know?<

>Of course not. I wanted to make sure it’s possible. He is stubborn and never would take time off,< Nino snorted at the mere thought of that. Jun wanted to pretend that everything was fine. As if someone of them would believe him. 

>He cried this morning.< Nino blinked surprised at the answer from Ohno. He didn’t think the older would be able to reply to any messages. >He was in the bathroom to not be heard, but his eyes were red.<

>Not good, leader >We should make sure that he has time with his children. I have to go they are calling!< Sho answered.

>We can do it. We are Arashi we can do anything. Have fun!< Aiba wrote, and Nino had to agree. He sent a thumbs up and then put the phone away to concentrate on the score in front of him. 

After an hour more his phone beeped again, and he curiously opened the message in their regular group message. A smile bloomed on his face the moment the picture fully loaded. Ohno was carrying an awake Rin in his arms, Akemi was standing beside them with a big proud smile on her face. Ohno and Akemi wore matching overalls with splattered coloured stains on the clothes and their faces. All three of them wore paper hats and Ohno as well as Akemi showed peace signs. >The doors are finished!!!!<

>OMG! So cute!<

>Looks like you had lots of fun.<

>I can’t wait to see it this evening. Kiss my children for me for being such great artists, please.<

He giggled and decided that Ohno looked cute with small children. With a glance at his watch, Nino decided he could leave and go home to his lover and kiss him senseless for being the man he was.


	7. Chapter 7

Ohno grinned widely when the door opened, and Nino entered the house. He could already tell that it was Nino by the sounds the other man made. “We got a visitor,” he said to Akemi and let Rin bounce up and down in his lap. Akemi looked curiously at Ohno before she ran in the direction of the door and cried out happily when she recognised Nino. 

“Uncle Nino!” she yelled and jumped into his arms. 

“Uff!” Nino groaned being glad that he was fast enough to let go of the bags he had in his hands and bend down to catch the little girl before she would land on the floor.

“Hello, Mimi.” Nino carefully shifted Akemi on his arms and hugged her carefully to himself as he took off his shoes and entered the room. “Did you have fun?” he asked the girl and groaned as he remembered the bag he forgot in the entry.

“Yep! We painted the doors,” Akemi explained and grinned brightly. “Do you want to see?” Ohno greeted Nino with a short kiss to his lips while Rin hit Nino in the face with a loud giggle. The hand landed on his lips, and Nino kissed the fingers softly. “Hello to you as well little man,” he greeted the baby boy and then looked at Akemi. “Help me to bring the bags inside and then you can show me what you painted today.”

“Okay!” Nino let her down and rubbed the small of his back carefully. Then he followed Akemi to the front. He took the bags and brought them to the kitchen with her help beginning to unload them. 

“Let them be. I will put everything away in a second,” Ohno said from the living room, and Nino could hear the gurgling laugh of the small boy with Ohno. He shook his head amusedly and then le Akemi take his hand to pull him through the hallways until they reached the brightly coloured doors.

Nino ruffled Akemi’s hair as she showed him all the doors. They were mostly in their colours but with little pictures in other colours around the bottom of the door where Akemi and Rin would have reached them.

“Uncle Toshi painted the whole doors, and then we got colours to paint pictures. Look, look, I painted the Gameboy and a dog on yours,” she said and bounced up and down in excitement. Nino grinned and knelt beside her to see the pictures better. It was with a bit of fantasy that he recognised the dog but still. It was adorable. 

“You did great. It has the colour Haru had,” he answered following Akemi to the other doors. On Ohno’s were fishes, on Aiba’s different kind of animals, Sho’s had mostly books on it, on Jun's door was a picture that showed the small family. Nino felt a little ping of pain when he thought about their mother. “They all look great. Did you do yours and Rin’s doors as well?” he asked curiously, and Akemi nodded with sparkling eyes. 

“Yep. Uncle Ohno bought special paint. Look, I can paint on it with chalk,” she explained happily. Nino whistled when he saw the black door with a few chalk paintings all over. It was an excellent idea, he thought. Rin’s door was painted in a soft blue with a rainbow running over it because the small boy didn’t have a favourite colour yet, so Ohno had wanted to do something special. Nino shook his head in amusement and awe. He never would have thought of Ohno being so thoughtful to begin creating a new home they would like. 

“You think daddy will like it?” she asked and he giggled a little. 

“Your daddy will love it. Look Satoshi sent us this picture of you three earlier and your daddy said that he is very proud of his little artists.” Nino bent down to show her the small conversation, and even if she couldn’t read yet, she recognised the emoji Jun used in his message easily. 

“That’s good!” she decided, and Nino carefully lifted her up again as he saw the thoughtful look on her face. 

“What’s wrong Mimi?”

“Daddy looked so sad,” she mumbled and put her arms around his neck. Nino carefully stroke her back and moved her in his arms a bit. 

“Daddy misses your mommy,” he explained, and she nodded in agreement. She missed her mommy as well. “And he is trying to do everything right so that it will be like it always was.”

“But you didn’t live here before,” she mumbled, and he smiled. 

“Right. Because it can’t be like before. But your daddy still hopes it will be. He needs a little bit more time, ne?” Nino explained and even if she still looked confused she nodded slowly. 

“You all are here to help, right?”

“Yep!”

She looked at him with bright eyes, and Nino smiled softly at her. They wouldn’t let them down. Even if he was against moving in before, he knew that now there was no turning back. 

“Uncle Nino?”

“Yes?”

“Will you talk to daddy about me not having to eat my greens?” she asked after a moment of silence making Nino laugh loudly. 

“Nothing I can do here, Mimi. Your greens are good for you, and your daddy is right if he tells you, you have to eat them,” he answered through his chuckles and moved to open the door to her room. “But I can play a game with you. You can choose.” He grinned when a pout graced her face at his answer, but in the end, she relented and forced Nino to play with her dolls for the next hour or so.


	8. Chapter 8

Nino sighed and cuddled closer to the body beside his on the small bed. He hid his face and tried to ignore the little noises coming from the baby monitor beside his bed. They finally managed to make a schedule for who would take care of Rin on which days so that they won’t meet as four or five persons in front of the door of the boy. 

The small noises got louder, and Nino groaned. It wasn’t even his turn to look after Rin but Ohno’s. Nino hit Ohno’s chest not so gently when the latter let out a snore instead of waking up. 

“Uhn,” Ohno mumbled, and Nino rolled his eyes as he pinched his side. “Ouch!” Ohno’s eyes opened to look at him confused and with a big pout but Nino rolled his eyes, and a deep frown appeared on Nino’s face. 

“Rin is crying,” Nino explained, making Ohno groan. But without any words, he climbed out of bed and put the blanket back over Nino to make sure that the younger man wouldn’t freeze while he was gone. Nino hummed happily and hid his face in the cushion that smelled just like Ohno and listened to the baby phone when the cries got less the moment Ohno entered the room. 

“Hey little one,” Ohno whispered and lifted the boy out of his cot. He swayed the boy close to his heart while murmuring to the hiccupping boy. Rin looked up at him with big eyes; tears still clung to his eyelashes. Ohno changed the diapers when he realised what was wrong, talking silently to Rin. 

When he was finished, he lifted him back into his arms watching the gurgling laughing boy. “Uh, you are awake now, ne?” Ohno asked and got a loud laugh back as an answer. “Mh, want to join Nino and me?” Rin moved his little arms around hitting Ohno’s nose and mouth before Ohno managed to catch the tiny hands in his and kissed them softly. “Nino’s bed is wonderfully warm, and he is so good at hugging,” Ohno explained, knowing fully well that Nino was listening in. Nino always hoped to get a glimpse of him singing to Rin. 

“You big oaf. The bed is getting cold so come here,” Nino answered through the monitor and brought a smile to Ohno’s lips. He held Rin a bit more securely and with a detour to the kitchen to prepare a milk bottle - Rin surely would get hungry soon - he entered Nino’s room. 

Rin looked around curiously, his thumb stuck in his mouth and grinned brightly when he discovered Nino in the bed. He stretched out his hands with a giggle prompting Ohno to give him to Nino and climbing into the bed and beside his lover. 

“Good morning, Rin,” Nino greeted the baby boy and kissed his head softly. He caressed the soft hair thinking about how they probably should get Rin a haircut even if he were cute with the longish hair. Ohno watched him and then put an arm around Nino as the other leant against him. 

“Still sleepy?” Ohno asked watching Rin who was now playing with one of the buttons on Nino’s pyjamas. 

“Uhn… It’s too early,” Nino complained. Ohno chuckled a bit and kissed his temple. 

“Then try to sleep. You were back late yesterday.” Nino shot him a look and smirked, opening his mouth to tell Ohno that it was his fault that other activities kept him awake but Ohno was fast to silence him. 

“No such language with children near,” Ohno scolded, and Nino laughed. 

“True. But I can’t sleep. I probably will crush Rin,” he mumbled with worry in his eyes, tickling Rin when the boy managed to open one of the buttons. “Brat,” he teased and made sure to close it again. Ohno smiled and carefully changed their positions so that Nino was half laying on the bed with Rin lying on top of him clutching the head of Nino. 

“It’s okay. I will look after you,” Ohno said softly caressing Nino’s hair lovingly. Nino glared at him sleepily since Ohno was not playing fair. Ohno knew how quickly he got sleepy whenever Ohno played with his hair. 

“You don’t move normally, and I will make sure that you won’t roll over Rin.” Nino sighed softly at those words. His hands ran over Rin’s back who was happily babbling on top of him and fell asleep soon after. He was still exhausted. 

—

The next time Nino woke up it was a few hours later with Ohno sitting by his side and running his fingers through Nino’s hair softly to wake him up. 

“Good morning sleepy-head,” he whispered when a small moan escaped Nino’s lip while he opened his eyes. 

“Ugh.”

“Yep, I brought ou coffee. You’ll get it when you sit up,” Ohno teased when Nino wanted to grab the cup while still lying down. With a groan, Nino sat up and looked around blinking. 

“Why am I awake?”

“Because you have to go for a recording in an hour,” Ohno answered patiently and gave the cup to Nino. Nino sighed happily and took a small sip of the warm beverage. The bitter taste of the black coffee filled his mouth, and he felt how it slowly woke him up. 

“Where’s Rin?”

“I took him out when he was beginning to get huffy because he was hungry. You were still out cold, so I decided to feed him in the living room.” Nino nodded in understanding and licked his lips.

“And now?”

“Aiba took the children and un out for a visit to the zoo. Did you forget that you made sure that they had a free day today to spend? Akemi was adamant that they finally would visit the zoo and Aiba decided to join in.”

“Oh.” Nino blinked but nodded. That was true. Drama filming had finally ended for Jun and Nino had made sure that the agency would give him as many free days as possible before the planning for their new concert tour would start. 

“Yup. Drink your coffee and then shower.”

“Mhmm…” 

Ohno smiled and pressed his lips against Nino’s forehead. He loved those peaceful, soft moments with the younger man. It was strange how close they had become over the course of the last weeks since they lived here with Jun and the children. Before their relationship was an on-off-thing, now they spend much time just being close to each other and enjoying each other’s company. Ohno wasn’t sure what this all meant, but he liked it very much if he was honest about it. 

He watched Nino emptying the cup and took it from the other as very reluctantly Nino got up to fetch a few clothes and leave to get ready. 

“Yosh!” Ohno said to himself, getting up to get ready as well. He had a meeting with the staff about choreography, and if he hurried, he could go with Nino together.


	9. Chapter 9

Nino was pouring over the music sheet for a while now. Jun was curious as to what the other was writing. It was not seldom for Nino to be scribbling down lyrics or melodies for a new song even if he didn’t use them for their concerts. Nino was shy in that aspect and never thought that he would be good enough. 

They, of course, thought different and tried to make Nino sing his own songs. Sometimes they were able to do it, sometimes not. But every time they were and Nino got praised the rest of Arashi was proud because of the happy look that would appear on Nino’s face each time. The other was too cute sometimes. 

Still, now Nino was kind of struggling. He had scratched words out repeatedly now and was humming the same parts over and over. Jun sighed and ruffled Nino’s hair while putting a cup of coffee beside Nino. 

“What are you writing?”

“Secret,” Nino looked up and smiled at the dumbfounded look. He nodded at the coffee when he took it to take a small sip. “Thanks for this.”

“You are welcome,” Jun said and leant back. “You know we would help if you ask?” Jun asked after a moment. He just couldn’t let it go. Nino chuckled and nodded. 

“I know. And I promise I will ask if it becomes too much. I’m almost finished though. The ending doesn’t sound right, but that’s about all.” Jun nodded and took a sip of his own coffee sighing heavily and with a small frown on his face. Nino observed the younger man and felt a pang of guilt. He hadn’t wanted to put stress on Jun. But he hadn’t realised that the other had come home already. 

“Ou should try to get some sleep,” Nino mumbled, and Jun tilted his head a bit. 

“I’m not tired…”

“Liar. Sleep as long as the baby is asleep. You told me that a few weeks ago when you all were on a hazy for work, and I had miraculously a week off because the director got il and filming was cancelled,” Nino scolded and Jun grinned sheepishly at that. It was true he told Nino that bit of advice when it seemed the younger would fall dead on his feet if he didn’t get any sleep. 

“Still…” Jun still hesitated. He didn’t want to go to bed. The bed was so big cold and empty. It was nice to share it with Akemi, but he didn’t get much sleep then because he was so worried about the little girl who would wake up during the nights crying for her mother. Now that the excitement of having the guys over had toned down it seemed that the horror of losing her mother and the car crash wouldn’t leave her alone. 

“I’m here if Rin wakes up. Please, Jun. You don’t look good,” Nino mumbled and got up. He glanced at his song and decided it was good enough right now.

“Come on,” Nino decided and stood up. He forced Jun to stood as well and went with him to the bedroom. There Nino pushed Jun to the bed and curled around him, closing his eyes. “Nap time, now,” he said and held him close. 

He could feel Jun crying silently against his shoulder as he held him close but soon enough the younger man fell asleep against him. Nino was careful to put a blanket over him without waking him up and only left the bed when sounds came from the baby monitor. He hurried over to pick up Rin. 

“Shh… Everything is fine,” he whispered and checked for his nappies just to see that everything seemed to be fine. Still, Rin was crying silently. “Are you hungry little one?” The bottle was pushed away, and Nino rolled his eyes a little bit amused. It seemed as if Rin was just miffed. “Bad dream then?”

He swayed Rin carefully holding him close against his heart and because his mind was still on the song he wrote earlier he began to sing it softly. 

_“Close your eyes, sleep tight_  
You don’t have to be blue  
I'm there for you. 

_Don’t make such a face, don’t fret_  
I'll tuck you in once more  
and when you are dreaming,  
know I’ll be looking over you  
because I like doing that. 

_Do you know how beautiful it is when you are happy?_  
Nobody laughs like you  
I know, right now it’s hard on you  
please don’t cry anymore  
close your eyes, fall asleep. 

_You know, I can’t ignore it_  
when I see you like this  
but please believe me once the night is over  
it won’t hurt so much anymore.” 

Jun hid his face in his cushion. He had woken up by the cries of his son. He closed his eyes and felt suddenly so peaceful. It was good to know that the others were there for him and his children caring for them as if they were their own. 

“Thank you,” he whispered as he drifted to sleep once more feeling like everything really will be really better as they were not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I have written somewhere that they are still quite in their early years here? Because of that, I've written that Nino doesn't sing his own songs in their concerts. Please ignore this if it's wrong.  
> Yes, it is a bit of a time-jump, but I heard that song again. And I love it, and I needed to write something of this. I don't know what will happen in the next chapter. I probably will explain a bit what happened in between? But I don't really think it's really necessary, also. Uhm yeah... For those who want to listen to the song (and judge my music taste): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSnFbtv3f80. Be warned it's German and I translated it very loosely (and it still doesn't sound good :()  
> Also, did I mention that I probably will end up writing so much about and with Nino as the main character if nobody wishes for something specific? XD


	10. Chapter 10

“I’m home,” Jun called when he opened the door to his home. He blinked when no voices called out, and a small sigh left his lips. It was eerily silent right now. He never thought that he would miss the chaos that came from too many persons in one house. Especially his loud bandmates. 

Jun rubbed his face as he closed the door and put off his shoes. Nino’s meddling finally took off, and his workload had almost diminished. He knew the other man only wanted his best, but working had helped to keep his thoughts at bay. Jun shook the thoughts away and went to his kitchen. He saw a note on the table from his mother who had taken the children for a play date in the park. That at least explained why it was so silent right now. 

“Ah well… At least I can use this time to clean,” he muttered to himself. He changed into more comfortable clothes and started tidying up everything. It helped that the children were out so he could put their rooms in order. He looked at the painting on Akemi’s door and smiled sadly. When his eyes lingered on the picture that depicted his wife. 

He knew that Akemi still hoped that her mother would come back. Jun place the last of the stuffed toys on her bed when he could hear the door open. 

“Akemi put your shoes in order,” his mother scolded and Jun had to laugh at the long whine of his daughter. He left the room and stepped into the living room. 

“Welcome back,” he greeted and smiled when Akemi let out a shriek in happiness. He knelt down to catch the small girl and kissed her cheeks. 

“We’re back.” She grinned up at him and put a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Jun smiled and carefully placed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. 

“Did you have fun?”

“Yep. I climbed the ladder all alone and get down the slide,” Akemi explained with a bright and proud grin. 

“Oh wow! My big girl is so brave. Next time you have to show me,” he said, and she nodded. He held her on one arm and then finally greeted his mother who looked a bit amused. 

“We had lunch outside today,” she explained, and he nodded. 

“Thank you for taking care of them.” She shook her head and grinned a bit. 

“They were golden today. So it’s no problem. Do you need any more help?” 

Jun put Akemi down to pick up Rin who was getting fuzzy in his carrier and held him close. “No, I will be fine,” jun decided after a moment. He didn’t remember the last time he spent time alone with them.

His mother nodded with a smile and said goodbye to the children before she left the small family alone. Jun looked at the children caressing Rin’s soft locks as the small boy cuddled up to him and put his thumb to his mouth, his eyes drooping a little bit. 

“Daddy I want to be carried as well,” Akemi whined, and he rolled his eyes a bit. He had forgotten that the time after lunch was naptime for both of his children and that Akemi was demanding whenever she was sleepy. Still, Jun didn’t say anything but moved Rin around so that he could hold the baby boy with just one arm. He crouched down to pick up Akemi as well. 

“Hold on tight,” he asked of her, and she put her arms around his neck and hid his face at his shoulder. He smiled a bit amused at his sleepy children and brought them to his room. 

“Hop off,” he said when Akemi peeked out of her hiding, and she giggled when she let herself fall down on the big soft bed of her father. 

“May we sleep with you?”

“Yup. Daddy is tired as well so we can take a nap together,” he explained, and she moved more to the middle of the bed so that Jun could put Rin down carefully. The small boy had already fallen asleep, and he didn’t want to wake him. He made sure that there was nothing that would put the boy in danger before he lied down beside the children. 

Akemi robbed closer and pressed herself into Jun’s side. “Will you come home more often, daddy?” she asked in a small voice, and he hugged her close. 

“I was at work a lot the last weeks ne?” Jun played with her soft locks of hair and felt her nod against his chest. He hadn’t realised how often he was gone from this home since his wife had died until now that Jun couldn’t remember the last time he had the time to really talk with his daughter. 

Jun knew that he could trust the guys with his children and now slowly he realised that he used that to flee from his memories. “The boys made sure that I don’t have to be at work so often now. And I won’t agree to another drama so soon,” he promised and hugged her softly. 

“So we can play?”

“Yes, we’ll play a lot,” he promised, and she giggled happily.

“And you will cook?”

“Yes, I will make your favourite.” She nodded again and snuggled up, even more, making Jun laugh. It was as if the small girl wanted to crouch into him. He pulled the blanket over them and caressed her back. 

“Daddy’s food is the best. Even if uncle Nino and uncle Aiba make tasty food as well,” she mumbled making him laugh softly. 

“You can help if you want. But for now, you need so sleep, sweetie. Don’t worry I’ll stay,” he mumbled, and she grabbed his shirt tightly. 

“Promise?”

“Promise. I will never leave you both alone,” he whispered in an almost choked voice. Luckily she didn’t realise how he felt but finally fell asleep against him. He looked at her and carefully stroke Rin’s cheek when the boy whined lowly. 

“Sweet dreams,” he whispered when the boy calmed down again.


	11. Chapter 11

Jun was woken up when a small body jumped onto the bed beside him. He groaned, opening his eyes when said body began to bounce up and down on his stomach. “Urgh?” he moaned forcing himself to open his eyes only to be greeted by a very energetic and happy looking girl. 

“Akemi what?” he asked and sat up carefully. He held Akemi so that she would sit on his lap instead of his stomach observing her bright grin for a moment. His eyes wandered over her body, and he realised that she was clad in her favourite dress and her hair was made up into two braids running around her head. He was kind of curious who did her hair like that, but he forgot what he was about to say when Sho stepped inside. 

“Princess, we told you to let your daddy sleep he came home late yesterday,” he chided softly, and she giggled. 

“But me is big now!”

“I am big now,” Sho corrected and Jun rolled his eyes over that. But that little banter helped him to realise which day it was. He was thankful that he hadn't said anything wrong already to upset his little girl. 

“Aww, you are not my little MiMi anymore?” Nino entered the room and grinned at the little girl who jumped down from the bed to run over to Nino showing him four fingers. 

“I’m four now, so I’m big!” she said, and he grinned in amusement as he squatted in front of her to be face to face with her looking at her gloomily. 

“Really?” he asked and Jun snorted when Akemi shuffled in front of Nino for a while deep in thought. She didn’t like to make Nino sad. 

“Okay, I’ll still be little MiMi for uncle Nino a while more,” she decided, and he clapped his hands in joy. 

“Yay, I’m so lucky,” he decided, picking her up. 

“For how long will you stay that?” Sho asked in evident amusement, and Akemi thought for it for a while longer before her hands shot out, and she showed six fingers. 

“Until I’m so old. If I have to use two hands me is really big, ne?” Akemi asked for clarification from her daddy who nodded. 

“Yup then you are my big girl,” he answered, and she looked at Nino. 

“Then I can’t be your little MiMi anymore,” she explained to Nino who nodded in understanding. 

“So, I have to think of something new by then,” he decided to make her brighten up. That sounded good. “But for now we should give your daddy time to get ready for the big birthday breakfast, how does that sound? Shall we make sure that Aibashi really only makes your favourites?”

“Yup!”

Nino waved to the others and left with the girl on her arms who was beginning to ask him what they will do today and what she will get as presents. Sho rolled his eyes in amusement as the voices got lost in the hallway and looked at Jun. 

“Normally they say the first big crush of little girls is their fathers, but it seems you lost clearly against Nino,” he said with a grin making Jun laugh.

“True that. But oh well she could have worse first crushes. With Nino I can be sure he won’t hurt her at least,” he answered with an amused smirk and finally got up to get ready. 

Sho began to laugh while nodding. “Probably because he fears your wrath. You can make his solos hell,” he answered with another laugh before leaving Jun in peace to change and get ready. 

Jun’s eyes fell onto the portrait of Sumire on his bedside stand, and a sad smile crossed his face. “I will try my best to make this day very special,” he promised solemnly. Sumira had always made all birthdays for them very special. And today would be the first one without her. He rubbed his eyes when he remembered that Rin would never experience that. 

“Jun?” he heard Ohno say as the oldest man opened the door. “They are waiting. Akemi is bouncing in her seat, and I think she will never forgive you if you let her wait for too long.”

“Ah, yes you are right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be it’s a hard day for you,” he said, and Jun closed his eyes when he felt warm arms around his shoulders. “We got your back. Don’t you worry. Aiba has planned a princess party for later.” 

Jun nodded in understanding and smiled. “Sounds good.”

“Yup, your mother will come over and a few of her friends from daycare.”

Jun smiled and let himself being steered outside. In the kitchen, he pressed a kiss to the head of Akemi, hugging the giggling girl tightly. “I didn’t tell you the most important thing yet ne?” he said and tickled her a little bit. She squirmed in his hug but looked up with big eyes. 

“Happy birthday sweetie. I wish you the best year ahead, much laughter and happiness,” he whispered and smiled when she pressed her lips against his cheek. She felt overly happy right now, and he was glad for it. He sat down on his chair beside her, and they thanked for the food Aiba made. Jun observed the table and bit his tongue not to comment on the big fluffy pancakes and self-made syrups and creams that Aiba put on the table. At least there was a fruit salad as well, he thought. Also, Akemi’s eyes shone while she looked over the treats and thanked Nino who served her whatever she wanted. 

The adults chose their breakfast as well. Jun looked around the table being genuinely thankful for his perfect friends. He could wish for nothing more in this situation, he decided when Sho got up to get Rin when the boy cried out. 

— 

That evening Jun tucked Akemi into her bed. He smiled as she hugged her new penguin doll close to her chest. Of course, Nino’s gift would be her favourite of the day, Jun thought amused. He caressed her head as he knelt down beside her bed. 

“Did you have fun today?” he asked softly. Akemi nodded as an answer, happy but sleepy. 

“Yup. Daddy? I want to go back to daycare,” she said softly. It made sense after today. Jun had realised when he had seen her play with her classmates that she had to miss them dearly. 

“Of course. I will make sure you can go there again after the holidays,” Jun promised, and she hugged him around the neck in thanks. 

“Daddy?”

“Mhm?”

She fidgeted a little but then looked back up. “I really thought mommy would visit,” she whispered. Jun had to close his eyes against the emotions welling up in him. Not caring about how he had just made sure she was comfortable in bed, he held her close to himself and pulled her into his lap. 

“Oh sweetie,” he whispered pressing his lips to her hair as she trembled with her tears. “I miss mommy as well. But she is dead sadly. It’s not as if she had a choice.” He swayed her softly humming under his breath and kissing her head. 

“It’s not fair,” she decided. Jun knew that sentiment as he felt the same, so he nodded in agreement. 

“No, it’s not. But I will promise you something.”

She looked up hopefully, and he carefully dried the tears from her cheeks. 

“We will keep your mommy close because we will remember her our whole life and keep her in our hearts,” he explained and was careful to hug her close and keep her warm. “And as long as we will hold her dear she will be up there in the sky and look after you and your brother. Because she loved you so much,” he promised. 

“I will never ever forget mommy,” Akemi said determined, holding out her little finger. “You will also never forget her, promise? Because mommy will look after you as well. Mommy always said how happy you made her,” she said. 

“I promise,” he whispered and intertwined their little fingers with each other. Akemi shook it, and he kissed her forehead. 

“Do you want to share a bed with me tonight?” he asked her. Akemi nodded as she huddled close. He picked her up, and she made a grab for her stuffed toy as Jun made sure to pick up her blanket to bring everything to his room. They climbed in bed and Jun caressed hair humming softly until she fell to sleep. He looked at her for a moment longer before getting up and going to the living room. 

\--

He let himself fall on the sofa closing his eyes tiredly. He really wished he could make the biggest wish of his daughter come true, but that was impossible. He didn’t look up when someone entered the room. He felt the sofa dip and how somebody moved his head onto a lap. A small hand brushed through his hair, and he slowly relaxed into the touches. 

“You look down,” Nino observed.

“Where are the others?” Nino shrugged a bit in answer before opening his mouth. 

“Cleaning. Aiba is doing the kitchen, Sho the terrace outside and Oh-chan is cleaning up the painting materials. I’m on Rin-duty, but he is already fast asleep. All the excitement made him tired.”

“I’m scared Nino,” Jun mumbled and sighed when the hand moved around to his neck and massaged him slowly. 

“You are probably only overthinking… As always. What are you scared about?”

“About forgetting Sumire, about my children, never feeling completely whole again, of Rin never being able to really remember his mother because they had only so little time together.”

“Clearly overthinking,” Nino said not looking up when Ohno entered the room and sat on the armrest beside him. 

“You all will always miss her, Jun. That’s completely normal. And you won’t forget her, neither will your children,” Ohno mumbled and brushed the shoulder of Nino to hold him close. 

“It’s normal that she misses her mother on days like this. Still, she had fun today. That’s what counts. Also, I didn’t mention it earlier because I wanted to run this with you first. But we thought about getting Akemi something so that she can have her mother with her wherever she goes,” Ohno continued. Jun groaned when nimble fingers found a painful spot right behind his shoulderblade and pressed it hard. He sunk down more on Nino’s lap and opened his eyes to look at their leader imploringly. 

“What is it?”

“It was Sho’s idea actually: We wanted to make a medallion for all of you. One picture would be of the three of you and the other of Sumire,” he explained, and Jun felt himself tearing up again. That was an excellent idea, and he hated himself bit that he didn’t think of that yet. 

“Stop thinking, idiot!” Nino scolded, and Jun almost yelled when he felt a hard pinch on the still tender spot Nino had worked on earlier. “It’s normal that you think of other things than us. That’s why we are here after all,” he said and bent down to kiss his forehead. 

“So, don’t hate yourself because we do the things we are here for. Go to bed now before Akemi wakes up and misses you,” he advised and pushed him softly. Jun smiled thankfully and then stood to leave the other two alone. He looked back at Nino and Ohno for a moment with a soft smile on his lips. 

Whatever happened in the last few weeks they were here between them. It suited them very much, Jun thought. The happy glint in their eyes and the softness around them was endearing. Jun left the room to get ready for bed and hugged Akemi close with a smile. He couldn’t help it but be thankful for all the good small things that happened even with this tragedy. Strangely it encouraged him to feel at least a little bit of peace.


	12. Chapter 12

Nino was singing to Rin and trying to calm the crying boy down. It was hard since his teeth were growing and Nino reckoned it was painful if he thought about all the havoc the boy caused because of that. Rin had always been growling and whining because of them, and honestly, it was tiring them all out. Nino sighed when finally the cries ceased to hiccups, and it seemed that Rin eventually fell asleep because he had tired himself out with his crying.

Then the door was slammed open and close a few seconds after. Rin flinched and began to cry again. “What the?” Nino swore and went to the entryway. “What do you think you are doing?” he asked with a glare but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Jun’s face.

“What happened?” he asked while moving Rin up and down on his arms, hoping against hope that he would finally fall asleep so that he could put him into his bed. He swore inaudibly when it didn’t work at all.

“Don’t swear in front of the kids,” Jun scolded rather lifelessly. Nino snorted and rolled his eyes. 

“Get in,” he demanded and turned on his heel to go to their bedrooms. Ohno was here. Of course, the older had a night shoot, and Nino had wanted to let him sleep, but there was no way. Not when Jun looked like murdering somebody and like all life left him at the same time. Nino kicked the door open while still trying to hush Rin and went over to shake Ohno awake quite forcefully. “Satoshi, wake up!” he groaned when Ohno turned. He sighed when he realised ha the other wasn’t aroused so easily and shifted Rin to one arm to get a better hold of him. 

His fingers found its way under Ohno’s shirt, and he pinched him hard until Ohno woke with a start. “Stand up. J looks troubled, and I can’t talk to him while taking care of this rascal here,” Nino explained at his confused face. Ohno nodded and sat up lazily. Nino almost smiled when Ohno pressed kisses to his cheek and Rin’s as if on autopilot.

“Could you make coffee?” he asked. 

“Okay, hurry please.”

“Yes, give him to me he can watch me dress,” Ohno said, and Nino felt himself close to weeping as he was relieved of his burden. Rin was really grating on his nerves. He had told his mother that he wasn’t good with children and he had been so close to giving up since the teething started.

Nino left the bedroom and went to the kitchen to make the coffee as asked. Nino leant against the counter watching the coffee running through the machine. He rubbed his face and looked at Jun who was lying lifelessly on the sofa. He was worried about the younger man, but just now he knew he couldn’t handle it. 

Nino brought the finished coffee to the living room just as Ohno came out. Rin was biting on one of his toys which was making Nino more thankful than he could describe. Nino carefully took Rin and kissed his head. “Aren’t you a good boy?” he asked silently. Ohno motioned at Jun and Nino shrugged. He sighed and looked at the clock. He should go and fetch up Akemi soon.

It was good though that Akemi wasn’t here when Jun entered. “I think you need to leave or you’ll be late,” Ohno said softly and Nino really really wanted to kiss him right now.

“Thank you. I’ll take Rin with me. Fresh air would do him good,” he said and went to the front to put a coat on the boy before putting him into the carrier and making sure it was fastened before leaving He would prefer the pushchair, but Rin tended to get upset inside of it as he liked to be close to others more. So he didn’t want to take any risks. He had enough crying for one day.

—

“Spell it, what happened?” Ohno asked as he sat down beside Jun and gave him the cup of coffee Nino made. “What got into you?”

“Sumire’s parents,” he mumbled tiredly and turned around a little to look at Ohno who frowned confusedly. He didn’t know what the Nobutas had to do with everything. 

“I don’t understand, Jun. Please explain and try to calm down. Akemi shouldn’t see you like that,” he added. Jun groaned and rubbed his face. He knew that Ohno was right, but he was scared and furious. 

“They want to fight for the children, Leader,” he whispered finally and bit his lips. “They hadn’t talked to me since the funeral, and they never were really interested in them. They hated me, and they didn’t talk to Sumire when she decided to be with me,” he explained, and Ohno nodded. That much he already knew. But he didn’t understand why they would want to take the children now. 

“I see… What will you do now?” Ohno asked calmly. Jun looked at him and hid his face in his hands. 

“I don’t know. I don’t want to lose Rin or Akemi. They are wonderful and perfect. And I know that Sumire wouldn’t have wanted them to live with their grandparents. She wanted them to have a good life without any pressure to be perfect like she had.” Ohno smiled a bit and ruffled Jun’s hair. 

“I think you know very well what you want to do.”

“But isn’t it selfish? Maybe it is better for them to be there? They have lots of time, they are used to raising children.”

“Jun you aren’t selfish. All of your thoughts are on your children. You only want their best, and I think you are perfect for them. No one else could raise them as good as you. I’m sure of it.” Jun smiled softly and finally drank his coffee. He sighed happily as the aroma hit him. It was delicious. Jun felt himself relaxing. It was strange how good Nino’s coffee was. 

“Still, I don’t know what to do. What if they want to fight for them? Go to the press or court or whatever?”

“Then you fight back, Jun. Since when are you so fast to give up? You normally would fight anything that dares to get in your way. Why give up now?”

“I’m tired,” Jun whispered. 

“I know. And I feel sorry for you. But if you decide to do your best for work and give up here than you will never forgive yourself. And your children won’t either. You have to decide which is more important now. You said in the beginning that the most important thing was your children. You even told management that you would rather stop being with us than giving them up. But ever since we moved here, you seem to work harder and try to make everything perfect. But you won’t be able to do that. We did our best to free your schedule only to learn that you agreed to more new things again. We love your children. We like taking care of them, but they need their dad. I know you have a hard time being with them because they remind you of Sumire. But it’s unfair to them. You promised Akemi to be home more often at her birthday, and again you seem to be gone more often than not. And if you are here you are working as well,” Ohno said strictly, and Jun ducked his head.

“The agency allowed me to stay. I don’t want to disappoint…”

“That’s nonsense, Jun! You have to think about what you want and do it. No excuses. We can handle the agency. We will help you here. But you are the one who has to be honest with yourself. You owe it to you and your children. I know it’s hard, I know it hurts, and I know that you want just to hide and that it’s unfair that you had no real time to mourn her.” Ohno looked at him and sighed. Jun’s head was held low, and Ohno could see his shoulders shaking. He didn’t want to hurt him. He really didn’t, but he couldn’t allow him to hide any more.

Jun hid his eyes for a moment to hide his tears and Ohno put an arm around his shoulder for a second. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Go freshen up. Nino should be back with the children soon, and you don’t want to greet Akemi with tears on your face, right?”

“Yes you are right,” Jun whispered with a shaky smile and Ohno stood up. 

“We are here for you. Please, think about what you want and worry not about the things you think you have to do,” Ohno said, and Jun nodded. Ohno was right. He couldn’t push the responsibility he had onto the others. His children were more worth than that. And if he continued to hesitate in his actions his parents in law had a serious chance to get what they wanted.


	13. Chapter 13

“Lookie daddy I made this!” Akemi grinned happily as she dragged her father through the daycare. It was the first time in a long while that Jun managed to bring her and he had promised her to fetch her early this afternoon as well so that they could eat ice cream just the two of them and she was totally looking forward to it.

Right now though she wanted to show off everything she built in daycare and wasn’t allowed to bring back home yet. “Sensei said we will put them up so that we decorate the room for summer.” She said with a pout. Akemi had wanted to bring it back home to show Jun. 

“It’s beautiful, my dear.” Jun looked at the small basket made out of paper. The edges were a bit uneven, and the scribbles on it lacked real shape, but his little daughter seemed so proud that he couldn’t help himself when he hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek and the top of her head. 

“You really think so?” she asked hopefully and he nodded again. 

“Yep. It’s perfect. Come on, your teacher is giving me a look. Do you need help changing shoes?” he asked, and she shook her head promptly.

“Me is a big girl.”

“Aww, how could I forget that I have such a big girl,” he joked and tickled her sides before helping her out of the light coat. Akemi kicked off her shoes and then sat on the little bench to change into the house shoes. Jun helped her to hang the jacket and put the shoes away before hugging her again. 

“I see you this afternoon. Have fun and listen to your teachers ne?” he asked her, and she agreed happily. With a wave, she ran to the teacher to greet her loudly and then ran into the group room. Jun could hear her greeting her friends loudly, and with an amused shake of her head, he thanked the teacher before leaving for work. He had two interviews scheduled today, and he was determined to finish them fast to be on time to fetch Akemi early as he had promised. 

—

Jun hummed as he was on his way to the daycare. He finished the interviews just in time and was looking forward to spending a bit of time with his daughter. He knew that his son was taken care of by Sho and Aiba promised to bring food with him back. So nothing to worry about.

He entered the daycare and knocked at the door to the group room of Akemi. He greeted the children and was slightly surprised that Akemi wasn’t there to welcome him like she usually should. But she probably was playing in the back with her friends, he thought. 

“Matsumoto-san?” the teacher asked in surprise.

“Hello. I’m here to fetch Akemi. I promised her to come a bit earlier to go eat ice cream or something like that. I hope that is okay?” he asked slowly. It usually wasn’t a problem to fetch the children earlier if there were no special activities planned. And there wasn’t any written on the board he had checked the morning.

“No… But her grandmother fetched her earlier. She said you called to say you couldn’t make it.” The woman explained.

Matsumoto looked at her in utter surprise, shaking his head slowly. He had not called his mother to tell her he couldn’t make it. He would have told Sho as he was on babysitter duty with Rin anyways. His mother was busy herself as far as he knew. 

“Huh? My mother hadn’t called me that she wanted to surprise Akemi, though.” Perhaps that was all. She had wanted to surprise his daughter and just forgot to tell him. That wouldn’t be bad, he supposed even if he was a bit down that his father-daughter-time wouldn’t happen that way. 

The teacher looked sorry as she shook her head, apparently realising that there hadn’t been an agreement beforehand. “Not your mother, Matsumoto-san but the mother of your wife.”

Jun paled at those words and tried not to swear loudly. He had totally forgotten to tell the daycare that his mother in law wasn’t allowed to take the children anymore. Of course, he never wanted to deprive his children of the second set of grandparents, but he wanted them to meet at his home where he could check up on them. 

The woman hated him, more so since the death of Sumire and talked ill about him and scared his children. 

“I’m sorry I have to go get her. I didn’t inform you, but we got into a few arguments, and Sumire’s parents are not allowed to pick up the children anymore. The same for her brother, could you please note that down for future reference?” he asked trying his level best to sound not as worried and angry as he felt in the moment. 

It wasn’t anger to the woman in front of him more to himself and his mother in law for doing that.

“Of course, I’m sorry, Matsumoto-san,” she whispered, and he nodded. He moved around to hurry out and get into the car to go to the house of his parents in law. He hoped she would hand Akemi to him without any problems. His little girl didn’t need that bad experience.


	14. Chapter 14

It wasn’t a long drive to his parents in law. Jun stopped a few feet from the house and pondered about what to do. He was immensely mad that his mother in law just took his daughter from the daycare. If she had wanted to meet her, she could have called him. Until now he never said no even if he wanted to. 

Jun groaned and felt a headache coming up. It didn’t help to improve his mood, but he wanted to take his daughter tell his mother in law off and then finally go and get a treat with her. Jun sighed in the end and left his car. With fast steps he approached the home of the others and rang the doorbell, hoping for the best. 

It took longer than he would like until his brother in law opened the door. 

“Nobuta-san,” Jun said slowly and nodded at the man who sneered at him. 

“What are you doing here?”

“I want to fetch my daughter,” he explained as calmly as he could. “Your mother picked her up from the daycare and told the teachers I sent her which isn’t true since I already had plans for this afternoon.”

“Mother hasn’t seen her in so long. I think that she is well looked after here.”

“She hasn’t contacted me for a meeting either since Sumire’s death. She can’t just take her without telling me.”

“She is her grandmother. How heartless are you to deprive my mother of her grandchild.”

“As I just told you. If she talks to me beforehand, I wouldn’t tell her no. Of course, Akemi nor Rin are always at her disposal since we might have plans beforehand. Now please bring me to my daughter.”

“Why should I?”

“Because, Nobuta-san, it’s my right as a parent to know where my daughter is and to decide who may see or look after her when. And if you won’t let me in right now, I will contact the police so that you are forced to hand her over. But I want to spare Akemi that terror.”

At least that seemed to do the trick, and the man paled as he stepped aside to let him in. Jun took off his shoes and slipped into the house shoes with a small thanks and went deeper into the house. 

He followed the voices until he reached the eating room and tried not to let his anger show on his face. His blood was boiling in his veins as he saw his lovely little daughter sat at the table. She sat on a chair as straight as she could be with her head straight and a book placed on top of it. 

His mother in law was telling her how to behave like a woman and how to sit straight and eat. Jun frowned and cleared his throat. 

“Hey Akemi,” he greeted and smiled when the face of his daughter lit up. She jumped from the chair, and Jun knelt down to catch her as she ran up to him. “New dress?” he asked her and looked down at the soft pastel blue dress with too many frills for Akemi to feel really comfortable. Yes, Akemi loved cute clothes, but that was a bit too much. His daughter was no doll after all. 

“Grandma bought it for me. She said it’s what ladies would wear,” she explained. 

Jun smiled and kissed her hairline. “That’s nice. How about you go and get your things. I think I promised you something sweet, princess?” he said, and she grinned toothily at him as she left the kitchen to get her bag. 

After she was gone, Jun looked at the woman with a frown. “As far as I remember did Sumire tell you more than once that we don’t want her to be raised like that,” he said coldly and crossed his arms in front of his body. 

“She is too wild for a girl.”

“She is perfect as she is. And I don’t recall you telling me you would fetch her at all today. You can’t do that.”

“I’m her grandmother!”

“And I’m her father. Nobody is allowed to take her anybody without my knowledge. And you are lying to the teachers at daycare? Don’t you dare to do that again.”

“You won’t let me see her.”

“You don’t ask me! Of course, you can come to visit if you want. We can make time.”

“I want her here.”

“Not going to happen. Not after what I witnessed here and she was only here for a few hours. If you want to see her or Rin or both, it’s fine. But I want to be there as well. Or my mother or one of the others,” he said seriously. “And just to let you know: You are not allowed to pick her up from the daycare again. I already told the teachers that they are not allowed to hand her over.”

The woman spluttered and looked at him angrily. “I won’t allow you to raise the children with a bunch of men. Who knows what happens behind closed doors.”

Jun shook his head and closed his eyes silently counting up to ten and then to twenty as to not yell at the woman. He would stay as polite as possible. He didn’t want to be on the same level as her. 

“Nothing that would be of any interest from you. Now if you excuse me, my daughter is waiting for me and the promised father-daughter-date we were supposed to have before you intervened.”

“I won’t allow you to alienate her from us,” she said. 

Jun looked back at her and shook his head. “And I won’t allow you to play your games.”

“You already took my daughter! I won’t allow you to do the same with my granddaughter. I will fight you for her custody.”

“I never took anything from you. That was all your own doing.” Jun shook his head at the second threat and left finally to catch up with his daughter in the entryway.

“Ready to go?”

“Yup.” Akemi took his hand, and with a wave to the others, she left with her father for the car. She pulled unhappily at her ponytail. 

“What’s wrong, princess?”

“Uncle Nino braided my hair to a crown earlier. Now it’s all gone,” she complained with a cute pout.

Jun laughed softly and picked her up to blow a raspberry on her cheek to make her giggle again. 

“I think he won’t be mad at you. And if you ask he will do the same for you tomorrow,” he promised. 

“You think so?”

“I’m certain. Don’t worry, princess.”

“Good!” she decided. 

Jun sighed and hugged her more tightly. It scared him that his mother in law could take her away from him so easily. But he was happy that Akemi was only worried because of her hair and nothing else at the moment.

“Do you want to have cake or ice-cream?” he asked to change the topic and put her in the booster seat and made sure that she was all buckled in before starting the car.

“Ice-cream!”

Jun laughed and with that their ‘date’ could finally begin.


	15. Chapter 15

Jun was still mad when he arrived home that evening. It had been hard to ignore his feelings while he was on the outing with his little girl and tried to make her laugh again. He couldn’t believe that his mother in law had just done that.

He was glad when the other guys were already home when they got inside and as soon as Akemi heard Nino’s voice shouting at - probably - the TV she was off running to her favourite uncle and jumping on him. Jun laughed a little as he listened to Nino’s shocked yell and the crash or whatever. Since no crying was following, he was sure that it hadn’t been his daughter, so there was that. Jun rolled his eyes amusedly for a moment before a frown replaced it as he remembered the face of his mother in law. He placed their shoes in the cabinet and took off his light jacket to go to the kitchen. 

He poured himself a glass of water and leant against the cupboards with a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his racing heart. He wanted to go back to the living room to make sure Akemi was right and then look after Rin, but right now he couldn’t bring himself to move. Also, he was convinced that he was making such a scary face right now that both of his children would be crying if they saw him right now. 

“Calm down,” he mumbled to the empty room and opened the eyes when he heard a slight chuckle. 

“Stressful day?” Sho asked. 

Jun shrugged before stopping himself and nodded. He fell onto the chair at the table and buried his face in his hands. He hadn’t told his friends yet what happened and he wasn’t sure if he should. But at the same time, it was hard to stay silent. He was worried and scared and right now he didn’t know what was right and what was wrong. 

“Whatever your definition of stressful is. Nobuta-san took my daughter from the daycare without telling me. When I went to fetch her there she was all dressed up and sitting on the table with a damn book on her head to make sure she was sitting straight,” he groaned. 

“Ouch,” Sho mumbled and winced as he put a mug of warm tea in front of Jun before sitting across from him. 

“And she told me she wants Akemi to be with her all the time to make sure she would become a perfect girl. And if that wasn’t enough, she strongly implied that we had orgies or whatever in here. I don’t even want to imagine that she implied we did anything else with the children.”

Sho frowned and squeezed his shoulder softly. “Sounds terrible. I’m sorry is there anything we can do?” he asked. 

“No… I don’t think so. Just… make sure someone is always in the room or at least the next room whenever she is here?” he asked in a small voice. 

“I will tell the guys that she isn't allowed to have any of the children alone,” he promised. 

Jun smiled thankfully and rubbed his eyes. He winced when he pressed his lenses deeper into them because he somehow forgot he wore them. 

“I need to get these out,” he groaned. 

Sho laughed and stood up. “I will tell Masaki to start on the dinner. He lost against Nino and had to cook today,” Sho explained. He grinned when that made Jun laugh softly. “Go take a shower. We have everything under control.”

“Thank you, Sho… Really, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Jun nodded and then left for the bathroom to take the much-needed shower. He was so glad that the boys protected his children from this cruel world. 

—

“Everything alright?” Nino looked behind him when Sho entered the living room and leant against the back of the sofa where he was sitting with Akemi on his lap. The little girl was holding the steering wheel for Mario Cart and was skillfully falling off the rainbow bridge in regular intervals. But at least she was laughing each time she went ‘flying’. 

“Yup.” Sho mouthed a later and pointed at the girl. Nino frowned deeply but nodded in understanding. Something had clearly happened, but it wasn’t for the ears of the children, and he understood that. “I’ll get Masaki to cook. It’s getting late, and I think we are all hungry.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed and tickled Akemi who was getting bored because of the loading screen. “Can you look if Satoshi is up? Otherwise, he won’t sleep tonight and then you will get mad at him tomorrow at recording,” he explained. Sho rolled his eyes and then left the room to do as he was asked. 

“Do you want to play another game?” Nino asked the girl and put her beside him to get up and set in Mario Party for them to play. He gave her one controller and pushed the small table in front of the TV so that they had some space to move. Not his favourite thing to do but Akemi loved that so it was okay. 

Ohno came out of Rin’s room yawning widely and with a very awake boy in his arms. “Hey,” he greeted Nino with a kiss to the temple which brought a smile from his boyfriend and a giggle from Akemi and then let himself fall down on the sofa to put Rin on his lap and wave a soft toy in front of his face.

“Did you sleep?”

“Yup, the bean bag in Rin’s room is very comfortable to read stories in and fall asleep while listening to them, ne Rin?” he asked the boy who laughed happily and tried to catch the toy. Ohno held him around the back to make sure that he wouldn’t topple over and smiled at his happy face. 

“How can you fall asleep while you read? - Careful Akemi,” Nino said when the girl jumped on one leg and almost fell down. 

“We listened to an audiobook. It was about penguins and bears,” Ohno explained sleepily. Nino chuckled and shook his head. 

“Where are the others?”

“Jun is in the shower, Aiba is cooking, and he took Sho with him to teach him.”

Nino laughed out loud and shook his head. “Let’s hope the food and the kitchen will survive,” he mumbled, grinning when Akemi finally got fed up by the conversation of the adults and forced Nino to pay her his full attention and to take her earnestly.


	16. Chapter 16

“So what’s the matter?” Nino asked as he sat down on the sofa again. He smiled at Ohno who opened his arms for him to settle down near him. He closed his eyes for a moment and kissed his chin before looking at Jun. 

Jun sighed and rubbed his eyes for a moment. He was still tired, and a headache was forming behind his eyes. He really shouldn’t be so angry and worried about it all. But it was hard to ignore. The words of his mother in law had hurt him deeply. He still wasn’t sure if his decision to keep the children had been the right one. 

“When I came to the daycare to fetch Akemi for our day out she was gone,” he began and bit his lip at the shock he had felt then.

“What? How?”

“Nobuta-san, their grandmother picked her up without telling me. She told the teachers that I told her to pick her up, so they were quite surprised by me showing up. She really wants to have Akemi. Rin as well, probably, just to hurt me. I don’t think she really has any interest in him though. For her he is at fault for the death of her daughter,” he whispered as he looked at the door where his son was sleeping. 

“It was an accident, wasn’t it?” Sho asked confused. 

Jun nodded with a sigh. “Yes but that woman is terrible. So I’m not surprised,” he explained leaning back in the lounge chair he was resting on. “Still, I fear about what she would do. And I would ask you not to give them to her. I won’t, and I probably can’t forbid them to see her, but I can make sure that it’s only under supervision.”

“Got it. You can trust us,” Aiba promised, and the others nodded as well. They would make sure that the children were protected. 

“Do you think I am doing the right thing?” Jun asked. He was still worried about his decision after all.

“Of course. The children need you. You should stop thinking that you are not enough for them. You are plenty. You can’t be serious if you think that they would be happier elsewhere. You can’t take yourself away from them. Do you understand? Think about how they would feel if they lose their father now as well.”

Jun looked at Ohno at those words and then looked down ashamed. The other was right. The thought of not only losing his mother but his father as well was horrible. But he had never thought of it that way. He had thought that a stable environment would be better for them than him. He had unregular times where he had to be at work, and he was longer there than if he had an office job. Of course, on the other hand, especially with the help of the boys, he had more flexible times when he could be home. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled and frowned. “You know what will be horrible? Our next tour,” he said with a frown. 

“I think we can manage. You should probably think about an Au-pair?” Sho said thoughtfully, shrugging when the others looked at him in surprise. 

“You can pay them. It’s not as if you had too little money. They could look after the children and travel with us. Just like Sumire-chan used to do. They would see a lot of Japan and learn a lot here. So it would be a nice position, I think.”

“But what about our living situation?” Jun said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that the kids will be happy if you all leave again so suddenly.”

“You are right. But if we explain everything, it should be okay? I’m sure our managers can whip some kind of contracts up that they aren’t allowed to tell. And I have to say: Sho is probably right. We do our best, but busy times will come again and then it would be hard on us. I know your mother helps us whenever she can. But…” Nino stopped talking when Rin cried out and groaned. It was his duty to look after him for tonight since he had a late start tomorrow. He wriggled out of Ohno’s arm who kissed his neck softly and vanished into Rin’s room to soothe the small boy. How he hated colics, and he was totally not looking forward to him teething. 

Jun grinned as he looked after Nino and then at Aiba who handed over his forgotten tea. He sighed when it warmed up his hands and took a sip. 

“I think Nino is right. We should have a talk with the boss tomorrow about it. And don’t worry. I think it’s fun to live together. We could make it permanent with a flat in the city for stressful days or late nights,” Aiba said and clapped his hands. It was entertaining to live with the other guys. Okay, he knew that they probably had to leave again in the future, but he didn’t think they couldn’t stay here for a few years. 

“But if I have a stay in nursemaid I need another room,” Jun groaned as he remembered that all spare rooms were filled by his bandmates. Yes, his house was big, he liked big spaces, and it had always been his dream to have space for his friends and hobbies. Now his hobbies were gone, and the spaces were filled up by his most important friends. This wasn’t really a bad thing, but it made it hard to think about someone else living here.

“I can move in with Nino. Then there is a spare room. But before moving, you should make sure that you find someone and ask them which room they would prefer. We don’t have lots of things we need.”

Jun snorted and rolled his eyes. He was sure Nino would object that, but still, he was intrigued by that idea. Having someone living here that would be around the children most of the time would calm him down a lot. Especially when their lives would get busy again. “Thank you guys,” he said after a moment of silence. He knew that the others hadn’t been ready for children yet, but they embraced them so readily now. 

“Crybaby,” Nino mumbled when he came back and let himself fall onto Ohno who cried out in pain at that. He giggled and kissed Ohno’s cheek. 

“What were you talking about?”

“About a room for an Au-pair,” Ohno explained. 

“We can room-up ne Masaki?” Nino said, yelping when Ohno pinched him with a pout.

“What about me?”

“What about you?” Nino asked innocently, giggling at the pout of the other before kissing the pout away. “Of course I might be persuaded to be roomed up with you as well,” he agreed after a moment. He winked at Jun and stretched carefully. 

“Agency, tomorrow?” he asked, and Jun nodded. 

“Sounds like a plan. But for now, we should go to bed, huh?”

“Yep, sleep for me for as long Rin decides to stay asleep. Good night guys. We will make it somehow.”

He waved to the others and then vanished into his room, Ohno right behind him. 

The others shook their head and then followed their example.


End file.
